Based on Nigel Fairs' 'murder mystery serial' that has been running for over 21 years (new episodes performed every month in country houses, steam trains, jailhouses, castles and restaurants throughout the UK), Shilling & Sixpence Investigate takes place in a sometimes quirky, sometimes dark world where nobody is quite whom they seem.

Jeremiah Bourne is a boy with a remarkable gift. He can travel in time. Not by using a time machine, or stepping through a dimensional portal. It just happens to him, as though by accident. One minute he’s in the present day, the next, he’s 100 years in the past, standing in the London of 1910. Jeremiah has two questions: how did he get there - and how can he get back? On his quest for the answers, he enlists the help of Phyllis Stokes of The Society for Theosophical Research and her equally eccentric brother, Roger Allcot Standish, magistrate, spiritualist and dedicated nudist.

Following the death of her husband, Kathryn Ellis becomes the new housekeeper at Hodder Hall, keen to embark on a bright new future...only, her past won’t let her go just yet, and the ghosts that stalk the village threaten to cut her future short.

ATA Girl is a drama inspired by the real women of the Air Transport Auxiliary during WWII. From the UK and beyond, 168 female pilots, alongside the men, transported a vast range of aircraft from the factories to the squadrons, sometimes flying in perilous weather conditions and without radios or instrument instruction. One in 10 ATA pilots died. Told as a series of reminiscences from (fictitious) former pilot Amelia Curtis, the stories aim to honour these unsung heroes of WWII, whose shared passion for flying contributed so much to the war effort and who represented one of the first examples of ‘equality in the workplace’ for women in the UK.

5 out of 5 stars

Great Second World War Drama on the Home Front

By
Richard Meehan
on
28-10-18

Doctor Who: Scratchman

4th Doctor Novel

By:
Tom Baker

Narrated by:
Tom Baker

Length: 8 hrs and 40 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
76

Performance

5 out of 5 stars
70

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
69

In his first-ever Doctor Who novel, Tom Baker’s incredible imagination is given free rein. A story so epic it was originally intended for the big screen, Scratchman is a gripping, white-knuckle thriller almost 40 years in the making. The Doctor, Harry and Sarah Jane Smith arrive at a remote Scottish island when their holiday is cut short by the appearance of strange creatures - hideous scarecrows who are preying on the local population. The islanders are living in fear, and the Doctor vows to save them all.

5 out of 5 stars

Evocative and perfect. If you love 4 this is it.

By
Mike
on
25-01-19

Tsar

An Epic Chronicle of the Russian Leaders

By:
Mike Walker

Narrated by:
David Threlfall,
Hugo Speer,
Samantha Spiro,
and others

Length: 10 hrs and 22 mins

Original Recording

Overall

4 out of 5 stars
9

Performance

4 out of 5 stars
8

Story

4 out of 5 stars
7

Eleven compelling BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramas telling the stories of the Russian tsars. Broadcast to mark the centenary of the Russian Revolution, this extraordinary drama cycle by Mike Walker comprises 11 ambitious plays spanning over 400 years, exploring the lives of Russia’s key rulers from Ivan the Terrible to Vladimir Putin.

Based on Nigel Fairs' 'murder mystery serial' that has been running for over 21 years (new episodes performed every month in country houses, steam trains, jailhouses, castles and restaurants throughout the UK), Shilling & Sixpence Investigate takes place in a sometimes quirky, sometimes dark world where nobody is quite whom they seem.

Jeremiah Bourne is a boy with a remarkable gift. He can travel in time. Not by using a time machine, or stepping through a dimensional portal. It just happens to him, as though by accident. One minute he’s in the present day, the next, he’s 100 years in the past, standing in the London of 1910. Jeremiah has two questions: how did he get there - and how can he get back? On his quest for the answers, he enlists the help of Phyllis Stokes of The Society for Theosophical Research and her equally eccentric brother, Roger Allcot Standish, magistrate, spiritualist and dedicated nudist.

Following the death of her husband, Kathryn Ellis becomes the new housekeeper at Hodder Hall, keen to embark on a bright new future...only, her past won’t let her go just yet, and the ghosts that stalk the village threaten to cut her future short.

ATA Girl is a drama inspired by the real women of the Air Transport Auxiliary during WWII. From the UK and beyond, 168 female pilots, alongside the men, transported a vast range of aircraft from the factories to the squadrons, sometimes flying in perilous weather conditions and without radios or instrument instruction. One in 10 ATA pilots died. Told as a series of reminiscences from (fictitious) former pilot Amelia Curtis, the stories aim to honour these unsung heroes of WWII, whose shared passion for flying contributed so much to the war effort and who represented one of the first examples of ‘equality in the workplace’ for women in the UK.

5 out of 5 stars

Great Second World War Drama on the Home Front

By
Richard Meehan
on
28-10-18

Doctor Who: Scratchman

4th Doctor Novel

By:
Tom Baker

Narrated by:
Tom Baker

Length: 8 hrs and 40 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
76

Performance

5 out of 5 stars
70

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
69

In his first-ever Doctor Who novel, Tom Baker’s incredible imagination is given free rein. A story so epic it was originally intended for the big screen, Scratchman is a gripping, white-knuckle thriller almost 40 years in the making. The Doctor, Harry and Sarah Jane Smith arrive at a remote Scottish island when their holiday is cut short by the appearance of strange creatures - hideous scarecrows who are preying on the local population. The islanders are living in fear, and the Doctor vows to save them all.

5 out of 5 stars

Evocative and perfect. If you love 4 this is it.

By
Mike
on
25-01-19

Tsar

An Epic Chronicle of the Russian Leaders

By:
Mike Walker

Narrated by:
David Threlfall,
Hugo Speer,
Samantha Spiro,
and others

Length: 10 hrs and 22 mins

Original Recording

Overall

4 out of 5 stars
9

Performance

4 out of 5 stars
8

Story

4 out of 5 stars
7

Eleven compelling BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramas telling the stories of the Russian tsars. Broadcast to mark the centenary of the Russian Revolution, this extraordinary drama cycle by Mike Walker comprises 11 ambitious plays spanning over 400 years, exploring the lives of Russia’s key rulers from Ivan the Terrible to Vladimir Putin.

The Havana Quartet

Four Full-Cast Crime Dramatisations

By:
Leonardo Padura

Narrated by:
Adjoa Andoh,
Ben Crowe,
Lanre Malaolu,
and others

Length: 3 hrs and 47 mins

Original Recording

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
4

Performance

5 out of 5 stars
4

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
4

Leonardo Padura's award-winning Cuban detective series featuring Lieutenant Mario Conde. Havana Blue: it's New Year's Day 1989, and Lieutenant Mario Conde wakes up with another terrible hangover and a case which is close to home. Havana Gold: Lieutenant Conde goes on a trip through his childhood Havana haunts when a young female schoolteacher at his old school is murdered. Havana Red: Conde's fondly held prejudices are tested by this case involving a man found strangled in Havana Woods wearing a beautiful red dress.

Dodge & Twist

An Audible Original Drama

By:
Tony Lee

Narrated by:
Matt Lucas,
Stephen Mangan,
Michael Socha,
and others

Length: 4 hrs and 56 mins

Original Recording

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
38

Performance

5 out of 5 stars
36

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
36

It’s rumoured that Dickens wanted to return to his classic novel Oliver Twist, to bring him back into a later book as an older character, but he never managed this before he died. However, if Oliver had returned, what would he have been like? Would the scars of his childhood affect the man he would become? And what of ‘Dodger’, sent to a land halfway around the world, his friend, mentor and master dead because of Oliver? Dodge & Twist is that story. The tale of two boys, 12 years later, returning into each other’s lives - for both good and bad.

5 out of 5 stars

Great fun. Love the dramatics.

By
Dicky
on
10-01-19

Falco: The Complete BBC Radio Collection

Five Full-Cast Dramatisations

By:
Lindsey Davis

Narrated by:
Anna Madeley,
Anton Lesser,
Ben Crowe,
and others

Length: 12 hrs and 20 mins

Original Recording

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
102

Performance

5 out of 5 stars
93

Story

5 out of 5 stars
93

Full-cast BBC Radio 4 dramatisations of the first five Falco novels by Lindsey Davis, starring Anton Lesser as Marcus Didius Falco.

3 out of 5 stars

Great adaptations - shame about the sound quality

By
rcwApr10
on
30-10-18

The Ruth Rendell BBC Radio Drama Collection

Seven Full-Cast Dramatisations

By:
Ruth Rendell

Narrated by:
Oona Beeson,
Jamie Glover,
Peter Wingfield,
and others

Length: 6 hrs and 52 mins

Original Recording

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
9

Performance

5 out of 5 stars
8

Story

5 out of 5 stars
8

Full-cast dramatisations of seven of Ruth Rendell's tense psychological thrillers. This collection includes The Bridesmaid, Going Wrong, King Solomon’s Carpet, People Don’t Do Such Things, The Fever Tree, The Dreadful Day of Judgment and Thornapple. Among the casts of these seven suspenseful adaptations are Jamie Glover, Mark Strong, Reece Shearsmith, Paul Rhys, Danny Sapani and Juliet Aubrey.

Every year, on the winter solstice, the small town of Melcombe observes an annual custom, the roots and meaning of which are lost in the mists of time. A torchlit procession to the ancient tomb of Cairndale Knapp, overlooking the town, puts the old sun to bed and greets the new sun in the morning, restoring balance to the year. This year, however, Mr Sam Notice has bought the Knapp and has set about landscaping it.

5 out of 5 stars

More Pilgrim please..

By
pjb
on
07-02-19

The Raj Quartet: The Jewel in the Crown, The Day of the Scorpion, The Towers of Silence & A Division of the Spoils

As The Jewel in the Crown opens, World War II is at its height, and Gandhi is calling for the British to leave. When Daphne Manners arrives in Mayapore, she meets two men who will change her life: Hari Kumar and Ronald Merrick. She begins to fall for Hari, but Ronald Merrick - the local police superintendent - becomes infatuated with her and seethes with hatred for Hari. The Day of the Scorpion finds Merrick worming his way into the Layton family, and his treatment of Hari Kumar is revealed.

4 out of 5 stars

cut too short, enjoyed story

By
xenia watson
on
24-01-19

The Inspector Chen Mysteries

Nine BBC Radio Full-Cast Dramatisations

By:
Qiu Xiaolong

Narrated by:
Chris Lew Kum Hoi,
Dan Li,
Daniel York,
and others

Length: 8 hrs and 58 mins

Original Recording

Overall

5 out of 5 stars
51

Performance

5 out of 5 stars
47

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
48

Nine BBC Radio full-cast dramatisations of the crime novels of Qiu Xiaolong, set in Shanghai. Starring Jamie Zubairi as Chief Inspector Chen Cao, an astute young policeman with twin passions for food and poetry. Through thrilling crime drama, these nine mysteries paint a portrait of modern life in communist China, depicting traditional Shanghai life amidst the old alleyways and how it is rapidly changing with modernisation.

5 out of 5 stars

Excellent BBC full cast productions

By
Purchaser
on
08-01-19

On Mardle Fen: Series 1-6

The Complete BBC Radio 4 Full-Cast Dramas

By:
Nick Warburton

Narrated by:
full cast,
Helen Longworth,
John Rowe,
and others

Length: 16 hrs and 5 mins

Unabridged

Overall

5 out of 5 stars
29

Performance

5 out of 5 stars
27

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
27

Trevor Peacock (The Vicar of Dibley) stars as inspired chef Warwick Hedges in this comedy drama set in an idiosyncratic restaurant in the Cambridgeshire Fens. Warwick’s son, Jack, works alongside his father, which makes him permanently anxious. They are assisted by Samuel, an earthy odd-job man 'who crawled out of the slime with the eels', and Zofia the Polish waitress. Whether hosting unusual guests, dealing with flooding, fuelling father-son rivalry or moving strange stones from the edge of the Fen to his restaurant 'at his own peril', Warwick certainly keeps Mardle Fen on its toes.

5 out of 5 stars

innocent escapism

By
Mrs Elizabeth Jane Lait
on
14-11-18

Arabian Nights: Volume 2

An Audible Original Drama

By:
Marty Ross

Narrated by:
David Ahmad,
Raghad Chaar,
Mandana Jones,
and others

Length: 5 hrs and 43 mins

Original Recording

Overall

4 out of 5 stars
55

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
49

Story

4 out of 5 stars
49

In Volume 2 of Arabian Nights we return to Sultan Shahriyar’s palace where Scheherezade is using her spellbinding storytelling abilities to save both her and her sister’s lives. As much as the Sultan wants to kill her, each night he is drawn in by her tales and spares them. Scheherezade weaves a long, winding and exciting tale about Sinbad the Sailor, a reckless young man who has inherited his father’s wealth and spends it foolishly. His debts eventually force him to leave Baghdad and find his way alone.

4 out of 5 stars

Enjoyable

By
sora
on
17-01-19

Doctor Who: Twelve Angels Weeping

Twelve Stories of the Villains from Doctor Who

By:
Dave Rudden

Narrated by:
Dave Rudden,
Nicholas Briggs,
Pippa Bennett-Warner

Length: 8 hrs and 50 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
8

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
8

Story

5 out of 5 stars
8

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Twelve Angels Weeping written and read by Dave Rudden, with additional narration from Pippa Bennett-Warner and Nicholas Briggs. On every planet that has existed or will exist, there is a winter.... Many of the peoples of Old Earth celebrated a winter festival. A time to huddle together against the cold; a time to celebrate being halfway out of the dark. But shadows are everywhere, and there are some corners of the universe which have bred the most terrible things, lurking in the cold between the stars.

5 out of 5 stars

Enjoyable Listening

By
Mrs B K Gray
on
10-02-19

Gudrun: Series 1-4

A Viking Epic Inspired by the Icelandic Sagas

By:
Lucy Catherine

Narrated by:
full cast,
Kate Phillips

Length: 5 hrs and 42 mins

Original Recording

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
7

Performance

5 out of 5 stars
7

Story

5 out of 5 stars
7

An 11th-century Viking epic of love, revenge and faith, set in Iceland and starring the original Nordic Noir heroine, Gudrun. As a young woman growing up in 11th-century Iceland, Gudrun must forge her path through a world of unearthly beauty yet uncompromising harshness. The tale begins in her youth, with her childhood friends Kjartan and Bolli - but the love the two boys have for Gudrun causes a deathly enmity between them that leaves her reeling.

5 out of 5 stars

top books

By
Jana
on
13-02-19

The Darkwater Bride

An Audible Original Drama

By:
Marty Ross

Narrated by:
Clare Corbett,
Donal Finn,
Jamie Glover,
and others

Length: 6 hrs and 45 mins

Original Recording

Overall

4 out of 5 stars
208

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
195

Story

4 out of 5 stars
194

Late Victorian London. When James Miller, the most respectable of Scottish businessmen, is pulled, dead, from the Thames, his daughter is drawn into an investigation which reveals a whole world of secrets and corruption. Alongside local detective Culley, Catriona’s search for her father’s killer leads all the way to the tragic truth behind the ghostly legend of The Darkwater Bride and the power of her deadly kiss. An epic drama starring Adrian Scarborough, Claire Corbett, Freya Mayor and Jamie Glover, The Darkwater Bride combines the genres of the Victorian mystery thriller with the equally classic Victorian mode of the ghostly tale.

4 out of 5 stars

Ghostly Thriller With a Dark Heart!

By
Simon
on
30-10-18

Summary

Rome, 80 BC. An age of bloody civil war and dictatorship is at an end.

In its turbulent aftermath, an ambitious young lawyer, Marcus Tullius Cicero, is beginning to make a name for himself. But does he have what it takes, and can this new era of peace and prosperity truly last?

When he defends the accused in a prominent murder trial, Cicero's path crosses with that of Sulla, the former dictator and a war hero of the Republic. Soon, Cicero will discover that beneath Rome’s civilised and sophisticated veneer lies corruption, cruelty and vice. Taking on the Roman underworld may come at a considerable cost, and so Cicero must find a way to balance family and friendship with his unwavering commitment to justice.

The Roman world is on the brink of revolution. The age of Caesar is drawing near. And Cicero will have to do everything he can to survive the storm.

Critic reviews

"This is simply some of the finest story-telling you’ll come across, in any medium. The music and sound design are used perfectly here. It’s not extravagant, it’s excellent. Performances across the board, are layered and grounded from a script which is passionate, fast paced and thoughtful. The direction couldn’t have been handled better making this another Big Finish Original masterpiece." (Blogtor Who)

I didn’t realize Cicero was English

I enjoyed this novel way of learning about Cicero and his times. The main actors spoke like jolly old chaps and used phrases that were quite British. A few of the supporting actors use more formal speech ala Richard Burton and attempt to sound like Romans. That made it more believable. The female actors were very quiet and restrained in an English speaking way and were not very good. Still, I was able to put this aside and still enjoy the story for what it was. I hope they make more of these and resurrect Richard Burton if possible, at least for the accent we are used to from the movies!